🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <37f5e203.15868836@news.f9.net.uk>, Simon Patten
<s.patten@NOSPAM.id-base.com> writes
>ms <mike@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> What about these:
>> 3 COM Office connect Hub 8ort 10BT (�55 - or the 4 port version for
>> �35), Techworks Buffalo 8 Smart Hub (�50 and claims to be "easy to
>> use"!) or a Mayflex 8 port 10 Base T Hub (�47). 
>
>Woah! (Hello Mike! :) 10baseT is for 10Mbit/sec networks, if you're
>going for the 100Mbit system you need 100baseT cards and Hub. The cables
>are the same though... 

Strictly speaking the cable isn't the same, though its rare to see any
other cable than Cat5, which is what is required for 100baseT nowadays.

>I'd recommend spending the extra and going for 100Mbit, the cost
>difference is so small now that it's well worth it. However, I think if
>I was going down this path I'd consider getting a dual speed hub so that
>anyone bringing in a machine with a 10baseT network card could just plug
>it into my hub and connect into my network, I've had a few occasions
>where I've expected to be able to plug my laptop (which only has
>10baseT) into someone's hub but have been unable to do so as it was
>100baseT only - most annoying!

The disadvantage of the dual speed hubs is that _everyone_ either runs
at 10baseT or 100baseT, depending on the settings on the cards (as
well). If these are set to automatic they should detect the presence of
say a 10baseT card and switch themselves to 10baseT themselves. The hub
should also switch to 10baseT. Sometimes this doesn't happen, so its
necessary to manually switch each card to the appropriate setting. 

& don't forget bandwidth is _shared_ with this simple arrangement

So you may not get _any_ speed improvement with a dual speed hub, if you
have one 10baseT card permanently connected to such a network.

The real answer is a fully switched 100BaseT/10BaseT hub, the hub learns
the identity of each card fitted to each port & sends the data directly
to that particular port, this gives in theory the full bandwidth across
each port, with the suitable cards, & may even give duplex (though
whether that would give any further speed improvement depends on other
factors).


-- 
John Chapple